Sunday, December 26, 2010

The Doctor (Matt Smith) pays us all a visit in between seasons in this year's Doctor Who Christmas special.

Photo Credit: BBC

Review by Paul Steven Brown

'Doctor Who'
2010 Christmas Special
"A Christmas Carol"

While America doesn't have the Christmas Day television culture that the British have (we tend to hit the movie theaters after dinner instead), the former colonies does have its share of 'Doctor Who' fans. With impatient folks wanting their 'Who' spoiler-free and as soon as their British cousins get a new episode, it makes sense that BBC America would air the newest Doctor Who Christmas special on the same day as it aired overseas. Also, if BBC America wants to retain viewers and not lose them to bittorrenting, this should become a regular practice, particularly when the next season kicks in.

Monday, December 20, 2010

Spinning out of X-Nation, The Merc Report is your monthly review of the many Deadpool comic books published by Marvel Comics. This episode Corwin Crowl takes us through the Month in Merc for November 2010.

One's appreciation of Tron: Legacy will more than likely depend on one of two conditions: the viewer's nostalgia for the original film Tron from 1982 and/or the ability to just sit back and watch the pretty pictures. That's not to say that there isn't a story here, but it's a simple one that is dressed up with complicated details.

Friday, December 17, 2010

According to Variety, Marvel Television and ABC Studios is developing a television series based on former superhero turned detective Jessica Jones. It's slated for fall of 2011 for the big three network with Melissa Rosenberg as the head writer and executive producer. The source material will be the Marvel MAX comic book series that ran for about three years during the early half of the last decade called Alias, which was written by Brian Michael Bendis with art by Michael Gaydos. Since there has already been a television series on ABC with that name, the title change to 'AKA Jessica Jones' is understandable.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

The list of my 30 favorite songs of 2010 continues. Keep in mind that numbering these songs in a countdown order is purely arbitrary. On any given day the sequence could change. Well, maybe not the top ten, but anyway...

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

These are the songs I listened to over and over again throughout the year or were the ones that dug themselves so deep into my subconscious, that I couldn't help but hear them in my head. I do not propose to be a music authority, but these are the songs I enjoyed the most in 2010.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

These are the songs I listened to over and over again throughout the year or were the ones that dug themselves so deep into my subconscious, that I couldn't help but hear them in my head. I do not propose to be a music authority, but these are the songs I enjoyed the most in 2010.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Olivia (Anna Torv) and Peter (Joshua Jackson) on the trail of an organ thief.

Photo Credit: FOX

Review by Paul Steven Brown

'Fringe'
Season 3 - Episode 9
"Marionette"

Going into this episode I was worried that after wrapping up an incredible eight-part arc, 'Fringe' would fall back into old patterns. Luckily, my fears were unfounded and we got a compelling epilogue to the previous arc. While "Marionette" was a Monster of the Week episode, albeit a creepy and engaging one, it was well-adorned with very strong character moments throughout.

Monday, December 6, 2010

In this installment of X-Nation, Antony, Elizabeth, and Paul travel back in time and dig through six issues from yesterday in Days of X-Men Past: Uncanny X-Men #398, Uncanny X-Men #399, X-Treme X-Men #5, X-Treme X-Men #6, New X-Men #117, and New X-Men #118.

To avoid the undead, the cast of 'The Walking Dead' must now live together inside an elevator for all of eternity.

Photo Credit: AMC

Review by Paul Steven Brown

'The Walking Dead'
Season 1 - Episode 6
"TS-19"

After last week's drastic divergence from the source material, I was feeling a bit pessimistic about the season finale of 'The Walking Dead'. Thankful it turned out to be a solid episode and one that didn't go down the path that I predicted. As a bonus, "TS-19" was the episode that made me finally relax and enjoy 'The Walking Dead' the television as it's own thing and to not worry about whether or not it will stray too far from the comic book series.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

"Entrada" is an extremely satisfying conclusion to the most entertaining and ambitious story arc so far on 'Fringe'. The key to this success is due to the show writers finally going full-tilt boogie and embracing the madcap sci-fi core of the series and giving it a huge long kiss on the mouth. You can't half-ass a show like this, which was the problem 'Fringe' had during season two. There were way too many standalone episodes in an attempt to lure in new viewers or folks that normally watch shows with big mythologies. Science fiction is still a hard sell to a mainstream audience and no matter how good this type of show is, there is a large percentage of folks that will never give a show like 'Fringe' the time of day.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Several of this season's plot threads come to a head in this mid-season finale. 1. Chloe's alien influenced metamorphosis. 2. Destiny's increased encounters with new alien races and ships. 3. Col. Telford's abandonment aboard the seed ship. 4. Destiny preparing Col. Young for a battle just like the ones that occurred in this episode. 5. Eli dealing (or not) with Ginn's death. 6. The crew's increased control over Destiny's systems. 7. Varro's continued feeling of uselessness and attempts to bond with T.J. It sounds like a lot, but most of these points tie neatly into one another.